Ryder nodded and ran his finger over my bottom lip. “I didn’t kill you, because I knew when I tranced you; that you had nothing to do with the Guild’s plans. Arianna is a very different matter. We think that she was a plant by the Mages and the Light Fae to kill me, the Dark King, or both of us. We just can’t prove it, or accuse the Light Fae outright of conspiring with the Mages. Syn, now that you know more about the Guild, you need to know the rest of what we found out. Larissa was a message. Joseph was under orders to convert you to their plan or kill you. He was obsessed with killing; he got off on it. He took it farther than they wanted it to go. He was obsessed with you because you took from him what he had built. I killed him tonight. That’s what I came back to tell you, one less thing you have to worry about now.”
My heart skipped a beat; I’d wanted that kill. I didn’t feel better knowing he was dead and wouldn’t hurt anyone else ever again. It didn’t give me closure to the way Larissa was killed, and it sure as hell didn’t lessen the pain of her loss. “Did he suffer?”
“He’s suffered since the moment I found him trying to cut you open. He took from you, so I took his flesh. He died screaming in a very bad way. I removed his beating heart for you, and Ristan ate it, consuming his soul while Joseph watched.”
“Ristan ate his heart?” I asked, and waited for his nod before finishing. “That’s disturbing on so many levels.” Ryder smiled as my own filtered across my face.
“He took from you, and even though you may think I don’t care, Pet, I do. I have a mission here, and thousands of innocent Fae are depending on me. None of the other Fae seem to care, minus Adam’s father.”
“And your father,” I said, watching him.
“Yes,” he said, looking right at me.
“So, he is your father?” I’d hit on something.
“You’re fucking Adam’s brother, yes.”
“I’m not fucking you,” I said, smiling impishly up at him.
“You will be. I can smell your hunger, Pet, and your eyes keep dropping to my mouth, which is why I keep talking. The more you look, the more you want me. All I have to do is wait it out.”
“I don’t feel good,” I said as my body started to burn again. “Shit,” I said, sifting to the toilet and retching again. I didn’t even have time to be glad that I could sift to somewhere else besides his feet.
“I need to know what you ate, so I can tell Eliran when he gets here,” Ryder said from behind me as he pulled my hair away from my face.
“Just normal food. I ate chocolate and drank coffee. I’ve been drinking coffee since right after Transition though, and nothing like this happened.”
“Birth control, Syn?” he questioned as he pulled me up into his arms, and carried me back to the bed.
“Still active from the Guild; I have three more months of it left in my system.”
“Good,” he said, and my heart dropped. It shouldn’t have, but it did.
“Wouldn’t want my child, Ryder?” I quipped and instantly regretted it.
“A sassy little girl, with a mouth like her mother’s?” He smiled and my heart missed a few beats. I didn’t smile back though; something inside of me was sinking further into despair. “Syn, I don’t want children; not until I’ve finished what I set out to do. I have a few other responsibilities as well before I can play the parent. I’m not sure I’d make a good parent anyway,” he said the last almost as an afterthought.
“Eliran, come inside the room,” Ryder said, already stepping away from the bed as I noticed the healer standing in the doorway with Ristan peeking over his shoulder.
“We got problems, Ryder?” Ristan asked cautiously.
“No clue. That’s why I called Eliran, so he could find out.”
“You didn’t use a phone,” I said as I struggled to sit up in the bed.
“He’s telepathic. He sent me an image of what was happening, and I sifted in. I hope you don’t mind, Synthia, as you did not invite me yourself,” Eliran said, smiling.
“It is fine. You are welcome here, Eliran,” I replied softly as I watched him materialize several small medical devices and sit down beside me on the bed.
“I need to know what you ate.”
“She ate chocolate and coffee,” Ryder said from across the room.
“Ryder, Ristan, get out. I need to run some tests, and she deserves some semblance of privacy,” Eliran said, looking at me carefully, which only caused me to blush.
“Excuse me?” Ryder said with a deep growl.
“Ryder, you called him. At least let him do his job,” I said, meeting his penetrating golden eyes.
“Fine, I’ll be downstairs,” Ryder huffed, but it was more like a child pouting because he couldn’t have his favorite candy from the store.
When the room was cleared, Eliran pulled out a needle and laid it on the bed. “Last menstrual cycle?”
“It’s been a month, but you said that traumatic stress can affect it. Plus, I’m on still on the birth control from the Guild.”
“Good. That’s good. So you have been throwing up. How many times?”
“Twice. It just started. I thought I was immortal now, so why would I be throwing up?”
“Immortal only means that you don’t die easily or of old age. We still get sick occasionally, and sometimes we do die. You also haven’t completed Transition yet, so it is a little different for you. I need to take some blood,” he said, tying the plastic band around my arm. “Make a fist a few times,” he said, and nodded when I did it correctly. I squeezed my eyes closed when the needle poked through my flesh. “Okay, I’m done. You can open them.”
“Sorry, I think I’ve seen enough blood to last me a lifetime this month already.”
“Understandable after everything you have been through. Okay, I’m going to run a few more tests and take it all back to be processed.”
Chapter Twenty
Soon after Eliran had left, Ryder came back in, still shirtless. He looked around the room and then looked back at me. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay. He did a few tests and took the samples back with him.”
“You should try to get some sleep,” he said, coming over to lie on the bed as if he owned it.
“You gonna hold me through the night and keep the bad guys away?” I said jokingly.
“Among other things, yes. That was my plan tonight, if that’s okay with you.”
I hadn’t expected his response, and almost moaned when he wrapped his strong arms around me. “Close your eyes. I’ve got you, Pet. I’ll keep you safe; I promise. Nothing will happen to you.”
“Ryder, you said you would teach me how to feed without sex. How would I be able to do it?” I asked.
“I’m not sure you can, yet. We will worry about it in the morning, or when you are strong enough. Right now, you need to get some rest.”
*~*~*~*~*Ryder*~*~*~*~*
I watch her sleep—so beautiful, so fucking perfect. She isn’t in my plans, and, yet, I find my entire world wrapping around her more each day. It’s dangerous, and I lost control of him. She wants more than I can give her, and a better man would let her go. I’m not a better man. I’m also not above cheating to keep her. It is how we are. We take out what gets in our way. We kill to prove we can control what we want. She’s still thinking as a human. If she wasn’t, she’d know that by me getting him out of the way I was proving to her that I was the smarter Fae, the better man. That I was the man for her, and willing to fight to get her.
He growls inside of me; pacing, watching, and stalking her, even now. He wants to be inside of her, but I’m afraid of what he might do to her. He took over so quickly, and I was unable to stop him, or protect her. I fought with him and regained control. Normally, I am aware when I allow him to take control. This time, he completely blocked me from seeing what he did until I was able to wrestle control back from him. All he will tell me is that he made sure that she would not need to feed from another while she sorts her mind—so we can
give her the time she wants. Asshole, he still thinks he can control her. He seems confident that she will forgive me, but I’m not so sure that forgiveness will come anytime soon. I’m still not sure what else he has done to her. It scares me to think about what he might have done, and nothing scares me.
I could keep her; tie her up and fuck her as I desire. But she’s Syn, and I love her fight—her inner strength is undeniable. Her lust is addictive and, bloody hell, even lying beside her while holding the nightmares at bay is driving me into a stiff state of need. My cock presses against her, demanding to sink into her sweet honey until I’m balls deep in it.
My hands splay over her nipples, just to watch the sweet tips grow hard with the need for my mouth to devour them. I’m such a fucking prick. I couldn’t stop the need to be around her, to control her need. The first night I’d seen her had been a shock to my system. Nothing has ever drawn me in as her electric eyes did that night, and the pain I saw inside of them. The same pain that made her fight hard, and love even harder.
She’d been with him when I had first laid eyes upon her. Her eyes had been on him as she watched him fill his lust for power, but she’d been blind to it because of her love for him. Fucking kids; they’d been in love. She’d been staring at him as if he was the most amazing thing she’d ever seen. I wanted her to look at me like that. The way she’d smiled at him, with no fear hidden behind her luscious eyes. Her mouth smiled, so beautifully that it made my cock respond. He wanted power, and he had it right fucking in front of him. She had been his anchor, his power. He’d wanted more, and she’d never caught the look of dissatisfaction that shined from behind his mask. She’d been blind to it, happy in her assumption that he was happy as well. He wanted her power, and, eventually, had I let it, it would have consumed their relationship. Jealousy is a bitch.
I watched her pleasure herself, and nothing had ever made my cock harder than the sight of her legs spread open wide as her small hand worked herself over. Those sweet fucking noises she made had sealed her fate. They haunted me when I’d left her, right until I sifted back in the next day in hopes that she’d do it again. Eventually, I helped her feel the need to; pushing Fae aphrodisiacs into the air, just to watch her until she fell asleep, sated from her own hand. Like some fucking low ass pervert, I’d watched, her, unable to leave. I had never wanted a human. I’d stuck to a strict code to never meddle with them, until her.
I’d actually given in and kissed her once, and she woke up. She doesn’t remember it. I erased it from her mind. A fucking kiss! I’m a monster, and the one thing I had to have from her was a taste of those red fucking lips against my own. She’d awoken confused, disoriented as to who I was. I almost made love to her and allowed her to think I was a dream. But I couldn’t. I wanted her to scream my name when I fucked her tight folds. Needed it, like I needed fucking air.
I couldn’t take from her what countless others beg to give me. I can’t even think of fucking anyone else, without the sweetest pair of electric blue and lilac eyes popping into my mind. She’s in my dreams when I sleep, sweet and saucy, begging to be bent over and fed greedily. And I do fuck her in my dreams. Every. Fucking. Time.
I tried to let her go. I let her leave Faery, leave me. I sent guards to watch over her in disguise and keep her safe. I spent the entire time struggling against the beast for control, and when I slept, I would visit her in our dreams. Zahruk had brought women in, stripped them naked and took them in front of me like we used to do a million times before. The men even brought in a new one to fuck as a group. Eventually they gave up. Where it used to excite me, seeing women screaming to be filled, the only scream I wanted to hear wasn’t even in the same fucking world as I was.
I wanted to come back here and erase her from my memory, and me from hers. Easier said than done. To not hear her say my name in desire would be the same as death. I hate that I want her, that I can’t get her out of my system. It scares me to feel his need for her. He’s a fucking monster, one she’s made purr. But he’s temperamental, like his owner. Deadly.
I growl as I feel Ristan’s presence before the door opens. “What?” I snap, because the beast doesn’t like anyone close to his sleeping treasure.
“You can’t erase her memories. You could end up changing her destiny, or, worse, yours,” he says.
“I can do anything I want. If I do it then the only one who would remember it is the beast. Then, it will be easy to walk away from her,” I bark, trying to do so quietly.
“Will it be that easy, Ryder? Do you think the beast will let you?” Ristan asks, with his eyes glowing red as they begin to swirl.
“Fuck. This isn’t the time to be having a fucking future walk, Ristan!” I scream at him with the mental link we share.
The room fades away until we are standing inside Faery. The dead litter the ground. Mostly children and infants that the land has rejected; it’s starting to reject even more as times goes on. Ristan is just as floored as I by what we are shown by Danu. Faery is nothing more than a fucking cemetery.
“When is this, Ristan?” I ask, making his eyes focus on me.
“Soon, too fucking soon. We have to stop this. Look at the ground,” he says with his true language coming out in layers just like mine.
Blood covers the ground. Faery is drinking it; trying to fix itself. Hundreds of corpses litter the ground. Adults cry from across the field, mourning their loss as the Deadlands claim them for their own.
“Does it present a cure to you, Ristan?”
“The Heirs, always the fucking Heirs of the four houses and the four relics. It’s the only way. We need those fucking relics, and the Heirs like yesterday.” He finishes his words, and once again we are inside the bedroom where she sleeps.
“We will complete mapping out and retrieving the relics. At least one of the Heirs we need has surfaced. The others have to be somewhere we can find them as well. No more fucking around. It’s time to finish what we came here to do. Do you have any idea how far off that vision was?”
“No, but it could be next week for all we know, Ryder. The land is growing weaker, and more and more children die because it can’t accept them.”
“Go to the club and bring me back the maps of the relic’s locations. Sinjinn and Zahruk can start reconnaissance in the morning on the ones we have located, but have yet to retrieve. Keep the others searching for ones that we haven’t located yet. Wake me up if you see anything else. I can’t leave her alone. If that asshole comes back, I am going to kill him without the answers she seeks. I can’t chance him getting to her.”
He silently sifts out of the house, and I pull her body closer. Time isn’t on our side. Soon, she might not even remember me. Erasing her memory is the last thing I will do, and only if there is no other option. I want her too fucking much to let her go, and the beast will not allow it.
She moans against me, but my body doesn’t rise, nor does the beast. For now, he is content just being close to her. The lifeless eyes of the dead children in my world drift through my mind and the disturbing images Ristan showed me tonight play over and over. I have to stop it, no matter what the cost; even if it means giving up everything I want, and my own life for theirs.
Chapter Twenty One
The next morning was surprising, and unlike any morning I had ever had before in my life. I woke up wrapped in Ryder’s arms with my head nuzzled against his chest. I smiled against him as his warmth melted me. His chest rose and fell in sleep. I didn’t want to move, or disturb his sleep. I felt safe in this moment, cherished, even if it was just an illusion.
I placed my hand on his heart, listening to his even breathing. In sleep, he almost looked human—if you ignored the pulsing brands on his beautifully bronzed flesh, and the electrical zing that was in the air around the bed. I closed my eyes, inhaled deeply, and tried to hide the smile it brought to my face.
He was every inch the Dark Prince, and he was sleeping in my bed, holding me. Not because he had to, but because he wanted to
. I heard him growl, and my eyes shot open and darted to look up into his eyes that were still half lidded from sleep.
“Molesting me while I sleep, Pet?” he asked, with a tired, sexy smirk lifting his lips.
“There was no molesting going on,” I retorted.
“You just smelled me, your face is rubbing against my chest, and I’m pretty sure you just made my nipples hard.”
I considered it for a moment, before I smiled guiltily. “Okay, I’m guilty of those things. What’s my punishment?” I asked, shocked the words had come out of my mouth. I was supposed to be mad, and I was failing miserably. My brain was once again high on Fae.
He smiled brighter, and my breath hitched in my lungs. He looked like a man just waking up to the most beautiful woman in the world. I swallowed and smiled back at him. “I think someone is ready to feed,” he whispered, before he pounced, and pinned me to the bed playfully.
“As if. You promised to teach me how to feed today. And I’m pretty sure you said it was without sex.”
He smiled down at me. “But, I like sex with you.”
“Okay, who are you and what did you do with my Ryder?” I asked playfully.
“Your Ryder?” he whispered as he lowered his mouth to mine, not expecting an answer. His mouth met mine, and I didn’t stop him, as I should have. Instead, I opened to him and allowed him inside to caress my tongue with his.
We were just kissing. He wasn’t seeking more. He was giving me room to move away as well, not that I needed it. When he finally did pull away, it was because a knock sounded from the bedroom door.
“Yo, Ryder, it’s late,” Savlian said, with his deep, rich baritone shaking the wood of the door. I looked at the clock and was shocked that it was far later in the day than I thought. I was never one to sleep in late; at least I hadn’t been until I’d met him.
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